


By the Water

by bioloyg



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Banter, Celtic Mythology & Folklore, Fairy Tale Elements, Fluff, Love, M/M, Selkie Sam, Selkies, Short Story, Winter Falcon, fisherman Bucky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-27
Updated: 2018-01-27
Packaged: 2019-03-10 01:01:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13493535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bioloyg/pseuds/bioloyg
Summary: Bucky finds him by the water.





	By the Water

**Author's Note:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

The first time they meet Bucky is unaware that the seal in front of him is anything more than a seal. This is just one of about a dozen or so harbor seals in the area, so why would he? Bucky may live alone out here, but he’s not crazy. At least not entirely

“I’m not giving you any fish,” Bucky says as he casts his line out again, “I’m immune to your puppy eyes.”

He’s been sitting on this dock fishing for about an hour, but he’s only been talking to the seal for about twenty minutes. It hauled itself out of the water and onto the rocks to rest, and as such it barely gives Bucky a glance in return. Still it answers with a snort, pushing water out of its nose.

“Scoff all you want, but you wouldn’t be the first seal to come looking for an easy meal. You’re all much smarter than you let on.”

A few silent seconds pass. The salty ocean breeze caresses Bucky’s cheek like a lover and another wave breaks against the shore. It hardly touches the seal, which now has its eyes closed entirely. But it answers again, this time with a mocking bark that sounds like “yeah yeah.”

Bucky casts a sideward glance at the seal as he reels in his catch. He pulls the hook out of its mouth and puts it in his basket, ignoring its struggle to make it back to the water. Despite his earlier statements, which he  _meant_ , Bucky casts the seal one of his smaller fish as he picks up the basket to leave. “Call it thanks for letting me use your beach.”

The seal looks back at him questioningly, but it takes the free meal anyway. Bucky smirks.

~

The second time they meet is just like the first, and the third and fourth time they meet aren’t much different either. Bucky will be fishing, the seal will come ashore, and the two will bicker - back and forth until Bucky is done for the day. He always leaves a fish.

But the fifth time is different.

Bucky is restless, haunted by dreams from a life long behind him. No matter how he tries to drown the voices, either in alcohol or showers, they still perturb him. He opts to drown them in the ocean tonight, hoping the ocean will work its magic.

But, the magic Bucky finds is not the kind he sought. Where he hoped to find healing he finds the same seal sitting at the edge of the beach again. It seems just as lost as him, truthfully. Never with another seal, never playing in the ocean or howling into the salted air. Instead it looks mournfully at the sea.

Just as Bucky makes a move to join the seal it moves in a way that Bucky can only interpret as a stretch, but what happens after that is beyond his comprehension. The seal’s hide unfolds, leaving behind a familiar shape; that of a human. Something sucker punches Bucky in the stomach, awe or surprise. Rather than fear what he’s seen, Bucky is pulled toward the humanoid shape like the ocean reaching out to the moon. But as soon as Bucky steps too close, when his foots snaps a branch and breaks the silence, the spell is broken. For both of them.

Bucky looks at the man in shock, and the man looks back in agonizing fear. Before Bucky has a chance to find his words the man grabs his pelt and makes a dash for the ocean. Just as he reaches the water line Bucky finally musters up a broken, “Wait!”

Then man pauses and turns back, but only for a moment. He’s gone once the next wave breaks against the shore.

~

Bucky doesn’t have any seal shaped visitors after that night. There are no human ones either. Truthfully, the beach feels empty without the seal. The  _man_. Bucky isn’t even sure if what he saw was more than a figment of his imagination, but something deep down tells him it was real.

Night after night Bucky finds himself by the shore hoping to catch at least one more glimpse of the man, but each night he finds nothing and no one. After a while Bucky almost forgets, talks himself out of believing. But of course it would be the last night Bucky finds his way to the beach that he finds the man. Or rather, the man finds him.

Bucky sits by the shore, half soaking up the moons healing aura, half hoping he’ll find a seal that sheds its skin. He’s counting shells he’s collected when he hears a low and broken voice say, “You’re annoyingly persistent.”

He startles, dropping the shells in his hand, and slowly turns around. The man he finds has a seal’s pelt draped over his shoulders and cheek bones like a seaside cliff’s face. It looks like he’s wearing a ripped sail with a rope tied at the waist.

When Bucky doesn’t speak the man says, “All those times you spent talking to me while you fished and now you can’t speak?”

“I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”

He sighs and frowns at Bucky. “I wasn’t sure if I ever planned on letting you.”

Bucky wipes the sand off of his hands nervously and looks out toward the sea. “Then why did you?”

“I was tired of letting you hog the beach,” he says before sitting down next to Bucky.

“Can I ask you something?” Bucky hazards.

The man looks at him with his mischievous brown eyes and smirks. “You want to know what I am, don’t you?”

Bucky studies his face, looking for clues. “Do you blame me?”

“No, but I thought you would’ve figured it out by now. You humans have a dozen different names for us.” He turns toward the sea and pulls his pelt closer. “We’re very familiar with your kind. Unfortunately so.”

“What do  _you_  call yourselves?”

“In your language? Selkies.”

Bucky tilts his head from side-to-side, chewing on that bit of information. Somewhere in the back of his brain there’s a memory of a memory; a muddied vision of his mother reading him bedtime stories about sea creatures and those who protect them. “What’s your name?”

The man narrows his eyes, considering Bucky for a moment. “I’m not sure I want to say.”

Bucky snorts. “You just told me you’re a seal person and  _now_  you’re shy?”

“ _Cautious_. Your kind have proven themselves to be untrustworthy time and time again.”

Bucky holds his hands out, showing that they’re empty. “I’ve got nothing. Just some shells and a fishing pole.”

“Tell me yours.”

“James,” Bucky says breathlessly. “James Buchanan Barnes.”

The mysterious man holds out his hand. It’s soft to the touch, strong and broad. “Sam.”

The two of them linger on each other, but eventually their hands slip away and they look to the ocean. They sit side by side, silently enjoying each other’s company, albeit suspicious. Slowly, they warm to each other, visiting each other just as the ocean greets the earth at high tide. 

The 96th time they meet Bucky will greet Sam with a kiss on the cheek and a warm embrace. Sam will lean into it and breathe a sigh of relief, happy to have made it to shore another day.

**Author's Note:**

> Listen. I don’t know. Someone sent me an ask on Tumblr and it turned into a thing.


End file.
